Sly Vixen
by Peachfuzz221
Summary: Three new girls have come to town, but one in particular has gotten everyone's attention. She is swift,gathering random valuable items. What is she up to? Sonic and his friends are bound to find out, but so are many others. Along the way the sly vixen has messed with Eggman, fiddled with Knuckle's plans, replaced rouge as the only sexy bat around, and caught Shadow's attention.


Her pants were heavy as she ran her beating loud and fast. The sun beat down on her with bright, hot rays making her sweat, but it didn't slow her down. With a high leap in the air, she unfolded her wings and flew swiftly onto a wide branch of a large oak. From there she tree jumped, running to the edge of each branch she landed on and leaping, trying not to make too much noise when she landed.

Her ears flicked at the sounds of thrashing trees and breaking limbs close behind her. With every jump, the sounds became louder and nearer.

_Shoot!_

She was about to jump again when the tree she ran upon lurched back and forth, catching her off balance. She faltered a few times before the tree fell forward, and then stopped sharply as if something caught it. Unable to regain balance, Cleo's body slid of the branch, face aiming for the ground.

In a moment of panic, her wings clung to her body tightly. Cleo closed her eyes and took a quick gulp of air, straining to calm herself. Gluing her arms to her body and legs together she kept her posture straight in a diving position, making the she-bat fall faster. When she was less than a foot above the ground, she forced her wings open. They caught air in less than a second, rocketing Cleo high above the tree tops of the forest.

"Ha! Is that all you got Eggman?" She exclaimed high and mighty.

Her dark eyes caught sight of Dr. Eggman's robot cutting down defenseless trees and throwing them aside. The tall, plump man was seated behind a large window of glass in the center of the robot. Through a loudspeaker resting on the head of the mechanical beast, his voice spoke loud and clear.

"Oh-ho my dear, this is just the beginning! But all this can be easily avoided provided you give me that pound of gem you have with you".

Cleo patted the bag she had hanging from her shoulder. "Not a chance!" She objected, eyes twinkling in amusement. She loved toying with villains, especially Eggman. He was so easy and hot-headed.

"What the-! Why you…!" Eggman started, grasping the edge of his robot's controls. "Fine, we'll have it your way missy!"

Shoving forth two levers, the robot turned toward Cleo, its metal hands clamping shut a few times. The dark brown she-bat was ready to fly away, to play with the villain some more when the robot suddenly faltered.

"Huh?"

Again the robot faltered and started swinging its arms wildly at the air. Cleo heard the frustrated voice of Eggman getting anxious and she wondered what was happening. Then she saw it. A fast, spinning ball whacking the robot from all different directions.

"Yeah Sonic! Get him!"

The voice startled Cleo, sending her flying to the nearest tree. Hiding among its leaves, she peeked out half her now shaded face in curiosity. Her head screamed 'Get out of here!' which she usually did. That was her way, get what she needed (or wanted) and flee, but not this time. This time her curiosity got the better of her. She wanted to know what this spinning ball was.

Pulling a strand of long, brown hair behind her ear, her eyes watched a group of figures gather a little ways from the fighting robot. Peering closer, Cleo saw a yellow fox with many tails, a pink hedgehog wearing a dress, and long-eared bunny, a human boy, and a floating creature of some sort.

"Weird", muttered Cleo as she heard them cheer for someone. _Who is Sonic? _She wondered

A huge crash caught her attention, distracting her from the group, when she looked to see what it was; she realized how far she had flown away from the robot. She silently leaped onto another tree and glanced at Eggman's robot that now lay on the ground, beat up and dented.

The window of glass that had shielded Eggman from the outside was broken, and standing in front of it, a blue hedgehog with bright red shoes. His face was turned away from her, so Cleo couldn't catch his face, but she could hear his voice.

"Come on Eggman", he said. "You usually have something better than a piece of scarp like this".

"Sonic, you fool! This wasn't your fight!" Eggman bellowed, rubbing his bald head. Behind him sat two mini robots partially damaged. They nervously cowered in their seats close to Eggman.

"What do you mean? You have the stolen gem and we want it back", the blue hedgehog known as Sonic explained, arms crossed.

"Are you blind? Don't you see I don't have the gem?"

"You're lying", accused the yellow fox appearing beside Sonic.

"Do you see it?" Eggman questioned, clearly annoyed. "I'm telling you I don't have it! It's that slippery vixen that has it. She stole it from me!"

Sonic became silent, listening to Eggman. He seemed to be thinking about something.

"Tails, search the robot", Sonic ordered. The small fox nodded and hopped inside, searching high and low, under every item and observing every object. "Now what do you mean by a slippery vixen stole the gem?"

"Like I'm going to tell you Sonic", Eggman snickered, rearing backward and pulling a side lever. "You think I'm that dumb to tell you so you could go find the gem? Ho-ho! No way!" In a matter of minutes, Eggman and his robots were ejected, with their seats, into the sky. They were shot far away until they were but tiny dots disappearing behind the clouds.

"Sonic, he was right", Tails barked as he stopped his search. "The gem isn't here".

By that time the group that had come to support Sonic, now surrounded him.

"So he was telling the truth about the vixen?" the human boy asked, trying to put the pieces together.

"I guess so", Sonic nodded. He jumped off the robot and turned his face to the forest. Instantly Cleo moved deeper into the shade of the leaves quietly, but kept half her face unhidden.

His face was serious as he scanned the forest slowly. Cleo, instead of worrying if he would find her, could now see his face and started to study his features. His face was a tan mask, different than his blue fur; he had a long black nose, and beautiful green eyes.

Then the eyes looked directly at her and she froze, not even taking a small breath. His stare lasted only a few seconds, and then he scanned the rest of the forest.

Cleo sighed softly in relief. Though it was only a short time, looking into those eyes seemed like forever.

"Who do you think the vixen could be Sonic?" asked the pink hedgehog, blinking her big eyes.

"I don't know", Sonic replied. "Could be anyone. At least we know a few things that could help us find out who she is. We know she is a girl. She probably likes to steal, since she stole the gem, so that narrows it down to a female thief".

"She seemed to annoy Eggman pretty bad", the human boy added. "Maybe she's his new enemy?"

Sonic smiled. "You're probably right. Alright, let's get out of here. Chris I'm sure dinner is ready back at home".

Sonic licked his lips and started to run. As quick as a flash of lightning, he was gone. The group followed, running after him.

Once they were out of earshot and out of Cleo's vision, she took flight noisily. She patted her bag, feeling the rough edges of the gem.

"Looks like everyone's after you my friend", Cleo grinned. The she-bat straitened her bright blue, beautifully designed sarong skirt and adjusted her matching shawl. She looked like she was raised in an ancient temple, but that was her style.

Ruffling her bangs, she flew towards the south, opposite direction from where Sonic and his friends were heading.


End file.
